Hi, i'd like to know that some of the people are using url shortener for backlinks. may i know the pro and con of this?
Most sites like tinyurl.com and bit.ly use 301 redirects for the links, so it should be okay to post them. But I would just use my site's actual urls.
I really don't know if shortening your url in bitly or other shortening url tools are effective in creating your backlinks. As far as I know, its usually used in promoting long url in twitter or any social networks. But I think it's effective in identi.ca.
URL Shortners sometimes prevent you from receiving any SEO benefits. Other times they are less than optimizal. If the shortner site does not 301 redirect the request for your "short" URL to the final destination URL then the final destination URL will NOT get credit for the link. Also, most places where you would be using shortners (for example, Twitter) use the shortened URL as the link text... so there is typically no anchor text associated with the shortened link. So assuming that the shortner site DOES do a 301 redirect, the link is missing anchor text so at best it's going to pass you a little page rank, but not make you rank for any particular keyword phrase. In this case, they help you basically the same as a "click here" or "read more" link would. Bottom line... If you have a choice of fully qualified URLs or shortened URLs, ALWAYS go for fully qualified URLs if you want the most SEO benefit from the link.
I'm just too lazy to use them. I put the straight link in always, even on twitter and stuff, it's nofollow regardless so who cares
I've heard, and keep this in mind that I only heard this - that people who use URL shrinkers may not get the traffic and "honest" webmaster would by revealing that they are an affiliate of whatever link. Now personally, I don't know where to stand on that, people think this or people think that and you know what, no one's a mind reader, do most people do some things more than others? Sure. But at the same time, its not about people just clicking your links, its about making actual conversions, I suppose split tests are needed on everything for you to decide yourself.